NEWARK — Twice during this four-game homestand, former Devils stars have come into the Rock and scored against their old team.

Zach Parise hasn’t even played for the Devils for seven seasons but fans remain bitter over his decision to sign a free agent contract with the Minnesota Wild after the team fell to the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final. He gave them fuel for the fire on Saturday afternoon with a second-period power play goal that helped the Wild defeat the Devils 4-2 at Prudential Center.

That other player who spurned the Devils? That was Ilya Kovalchuk, also a member of that 2012 team, who came into New Jersey earlier in the week with his new team: The Kings.

It all comes full circle, doesn’t it?

Feb 9, 2019; Newark, NJ, USA; New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider (35) spits water during a break in the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Prudential Center.(Photo11: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports)

"I was expecting the boos," Parise said. "But from what I heard, it wasn't as bad as Kovy the other night."

Cory Schneider continues to search for his first regular season NHL win since Dec. 27, 2017, after this latest loss. The injury-depleted Devils (20-26-8, 48 points) opened up to a 1-0 start when Brett Seney snapped one past Minnesota (27-23-5, 59 points) goaltender Devan Dubynk 6:57 into play for his fifth NHL goal.

But around the 12-minute mark, Schneider lost his stick in traffic and 19 seconds later Marcus Foligno took advantage when he banked a shot off the crossbar and over Schneider off the wraparound.

"When you look at a couple of the goals they scored, they were in and around the net-front," coach John Hynes said. "That was something we had talked quite a bit about. It was one of our game keys."

Feb 9, 2019; Newark, NJ, USA; New Jersey Devils left wing Brett Seney (43) celebrates after scoring a goal during the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Prudential Center.(Photo11: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports)

They failed to key in on Parise in the second period when he was positioned right in front of the net. Parise, the Devils first-round pick in the 2003 draft, was able to redirect Ryan Suter's shot on the power play to put the Wild up 2-1.

Later in the period, Schneider stopped a point shot from Jonas Brodin but Joel Eriksson Ek caught the rebound on his stick and batted it past a diving Schneider.

Jesper Bratt briefly gave the Devils hope in the third when he cut through the slot and slid the puck around Dubnyk to cut the lead to 3-2 a few seconds before the four-minute mark of the period.

But a few minutes later, Luke Kunin caught an errant clearing attempt in the neutral zone when the puck took an odd bounce. He took it the other way, beat his defenseman to the left circle and snapped it past Schneider for Minnesota’s fourth and final goal.

“I felt good tonight aside from that last one,” Schneider said. “That’s on me. I have to get that one out of my game. But otherwise, they had some good looks, timing in the zone and scrambles and things like that. It was a little bit different from the game the other night.”

Schneider, in his 11th start of the season, stopped 29 of 33 shots.

"When you look at his game overall, he made some good saves and gave us an opportunity to be able to win the game," Hynes said. "It's good to see him continuing to progress to look like the goalie we need him to be."

The team has dropped its last three in Newark (0-2-1) with one more chance to salvage this homestand Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Notes

John Hynes coached in his 300th NHL game. He remains second all-time on the Devils’ list behind Jacques Lemaire. … Prior to the game, the Devils placed forward Miles Wood on injured reserve and recalled forward Nick Lappin and defenseman Ryan Murphy from Binghamton of the American Hockey League. Both were healthy scratches, along with Steven Santini. … Right wing Joey Anderson was activated from IR and slotted in on the second line with Travis Zajac and Blake Coleman. … Keith Kinkaid is slated to start in net for New Jersey on Sunday.